Meanwhile, the World Bank sounded a
note of optimism by indicating that the global economy has turned a corner
after five years of financial crises and recession.

"Equity markets welcomed the
international financial organization's outlook for 2014, in which it raised its
global growth forecasts for the year," said David Madden, market analyst
at IG.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of
leading British shares was up 0.3 percent at 6,788 while Germany's DAX rose 0.9
percent to 9,629. The CAC-40 in France was 0.5 percent higher at 4,295.

Wall Street was poised for a solid
opening, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 0.2
percent. How U.S. stocks open could hinge on the next batch of corporate
earnings, including from Bank of America.

The gains in Europe and anticipated
advance at Wall Street's open were dwarfed by the 2.5 percent rise in Japan's
Nikkei 225 to 15,808.73. That helped the index recover much of its 3.1 percent
loss on Tuesday.

A softer yen helped, particularly the
share prices of exporters such as Toyota and Sony -- a lower currency
potentially helps them in international markets.

The dollar, which has been on the
retreat for much of the period since last Friday's weak U.S. nonfarm payrolls
data, was up 0.2 percent at 104.33 yen, while the euro fell 0.3 percent to
$1.3626.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang
Seng rose 0.5 percent to 22,902 and South Korea's Kospi added 0.4 percent to
1,953.28. The Shanghai Composite Index, however, lost 0.2 percent to 2,023.35
as investors anticipated an influx of new listings.